The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

OAP's abroad...Judi Dench...Celia Imrie..The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Following the format, of older people going to India, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel doesn't live up to it's expectations. It follows a bunch of pensioners, carrying on the usual stereotypes, as they travel to Jaipur, after being enticed by an advert for the hotel on "the interweb." Maggie Smith plays a Cockney racist, a nice steer-away from the Downton Abbey Duchess, Judi Dench is the melancholic widow. Bill Nighy and Penelope Wilton play a very incompatible couple, while Ronald Pickup and Celia Imrie chip in as the pair looking for love. Then there's Tom Wilkinson, who harbours a secret that he has never let out - until this film of course. They arrive in India to discover that the hotel is dilapidated, and the advert was Photoshopped by fast-talking Sonny (Dev Patel), who owns the hotel, trying to make it a success to show his mother how successful he can be. Judi Dench's character Evelyn manages to get an unconvincing job in Jaipur advising a call centre on how to talk to Brits. Bill Nighy wanders off a lot and you don't really not what happens. Tom Wilkinson's story is the only watchable one, it's basically him revisiting childhood memories with consequences that I would say, but then it'd spoil the film. Some parts are enjoyable but it doesn't really live up to what I expected.




3/5

The Woman In Black

Ghostbuster Potter....Daniel Radcliffe..The Woman In Black

Poor Daniel Radcliffe. Being cast as the main character in one of the biggest-selling  franchises ever, means you are constantly referred to as Harry Potter. Surprisingly, after the first twenty minutes of this film, you forgot whom he's being typecast as and see Daniel Radcliffe as a real actor. This is his first baby-step towards a career in acting. It's set in the Edwardian era, where young Arthur Kipps, a solicitor sets out to look at the documents of a deceased Alice Drablow. He meets Ciarán Hinds playing Samuel Daily, a local landowner, the only other big name in the film. Arthur then travels to Eel Marsh House to examine the deceased widow's documents, where he meets the titular ghost. It replaces gore for chills. It gives the audience a shock but fails to back a real punch as a ghost story. I recently read the Susan Hill novel it's based on and the film is nothing like the book. It's quite enjoyable, but seems to be treading in it's own footprints a lot of the time. If you like ghostly horror films, you'll like this thriller.




3/5

The Muppets

Puppetry magic...Miss Piggy..Kermit..The Muppets

There's is something, surprisingly charming about this revival movie of the classic puppet television show. I'm not sure wither it's the celebrity cameos or the Muppet's themselves' genuine charm, but something in this film really makes you feel pretty good. It's set a good few years after the last movie, Muppet Treasure Island, and all of the Muppet's are living their own lives. It features around a strange Muppet-look-alike called Walter, whom is the Muppet's biggest fan. He believes his is part of The Muppets as he looks so similar to them. So he, and his brother, Gary (Jason Segel) and his girlfriend, Amy Adams. I sort of felt that Adams was underused. The trio travel to LA, to the original Muppet studios where they discover, an evil oil baron (Chris Cooper) is going to bulldoze the studio to drill for oil. So enlisting Kermit The Frog, they travel to find the rest of the gang. The best bits are when they find each Muppet in their own new life. Fozzie Bear, is at a Reno hotel, singing promotional songs, Gonzo is a wealthy plumbing businessman, and Miss Piggy has slipped into the editor's seat at Paris Vogue. It's hilarious, but some of the songs feel a bit irritating. The celebrity cameos are great - Jack Black playing a large role, Neil Patrick Harris, Whoopi Goldberg, Selena Gomez, Alan Arkin, and Emily Blunt playing Miss P's receptionist (a homage to her evil assistant role in The Devil Wears Prada.) I'd recommend it to anyone, any age. A complete 'phenomenal' of a film - get it?






5/5

Man On A Ledge

Self-explanatory...Sam Worthington..Man On A Ledge

It's an interesting concept - a man on a ledge - will he jump, won't he? This film grasps the concept but doesn't really work with it. It's edgy, suspenseful, and ridiculous but enjoyable all the same. Sam Worthington plays an ex-cop Nick Cassidy, wrongly accused of pinching a diamond off tycoon, David Englander (Ed Harris). Pretending to be a "jumper" he gets New York's attention while his younger brother, Joey and his street-wise girlfriend (Jamie Bell and Genesis Rodriguez) try and steal the diamond to prove that Nick never stole it in the first place. While all this unconvincing pandemonium occurs, the negotiator (Elizabeth Banks), tries to convince Nick not to jump. It's very confusing, but fun stuff. Ed Burns chips in as a friend of Bank's. As they say, "suspend your disbelief" when viewing this film.




3.5/5

Chronicle

Power play...Dane DeHaan..Alex Russell..Michael B. Jordan..Chronicle

It's rare that you find a film, that is shot by handheld camera, or CCTV footage and Chronicle has revisited this, and pulled it off. An enjoyable science fiction film about three teenagers who discover they have superpowers - telekinesis. The main character is Andrew, the primary cameraman, who lives with his abusive, alcoholic father and his mother who is dying from cancer. He is a 'loner' with no friends except his cousin, Matt (Alex Russell) who seems to take pity on Andrew. Experimenting, Andrew buys a video camera to video his everyday life. At a party one night, Andrew gets humiliated and beaten up by a girl's boyfriend, so he goes outside and meets Steve Montgomery, a influential teen, hoping to become class president. Steve, Andrew and Matt find a sinkhole, where suddenly they develop telekinesis powers. The best scenes are the fun sequence, when the trio play around with their abilities, for instance moving a car and animating a teddy bear to spook a little girl. It's all fun, innocent stuff but eventually spirals out of control, cultivating in a grand finale. As the poster says, "What are you capable of?" It's a great science-fiction thriller with plenty of comedy moments but other more serious bits. A great film, in it's own way.




4/5